Job Discussion Forums

chicagojoe · Joined: 27 Sep 2005 Posts: 14

Be very careful in your dealings with this school. Their photos and information describe a brand new facility but most of it is crumbling and falling apart. I was offered a job here in late August of 2005 and promised an apartment, transportation, food, monthly salary paid on the last day of the month, training, orientation, all necessary class materials, and more.

The first red flag should have been when I signed the contract and forwarded it to the placement agency and was told to "come on over", so to speak. After borrowing money from relatives and arriving via plane, train and automobile, I found out the promised apartment dosen't exist yet - it's still being built! They said, "Oh, don't worry, we still have a place for you to stay", and led me to a room in the students' dorm. This is a barracks, similar to the military, with shared toilets (the squat variety & a baseball stadium-type urinal). Cold water, too; I had to buy a small water pot to boil water for shaving with. Turns out the school is an abandoned soccer training camp. The showers are only open twice a week, and you have to shower with the entire student body. I'm not so comfortable with that myself (could be a cultural thing, I dunno). So far, I've been taking sponge baths in my dorm. No laundry services, you're expected to wash all your clothes by hand in cold water and drip-dry it. One of the things they originally promised me was an apartment with a WASHING MACHINE (not to mention my own personal shower and toilet facilities). Meals are in an airplane hanger-type room, cafeteria style, all greasy fried food and lots of starch. Needless to say, I was forced to pay for my own meals.

The school is so far out in the boonies there's not even a small store nearby to buy basic necessities, let alone class materials or anything else. No restaurants, no bars, coffee shops, anything. Just a highway and some warehouses. The school has a (free) shuttle into Shenyang at 5:00 pm, and it takes 30-45 minutes to get downtown. I went a few times to Zhonghua Rd. to buy some essentials at Wal-Mart, then had to get "home" by taxi - 30 RMB. Usually I was so tired after these excursions, I would just go back to my bed and crash... at 8:00 p.m. After three weeks, the promised work visa ("Z") still had not materialised, plus I was being told if I wanted to live outside the Hurricane Katrina barracks, I would need to put up rent on my own (security+1st month+last month=3000 RMB) regardless of the fact I arrived in China practically penniless. But the school would "loan" me the money, and deduct it from my salary. Not quite what I had in mind. I finally managed to procure a copy of THEIR contract and, Whoa Nelly! Vastly different from the one I had signed in Chicago. Not only were things changed about living and working conditions, but there waere a few "breach of contract" clauses thrown in. Namely, if they decided I wasn't doing a good enough job, they could 86 me AND fine me $500 U.S./ 4000 RMB (and not have to pay my plane fare either). Not good. Not good at all. None of this, of course, was in the original contract.

My first day teaching, there was no orientation or training whatsoever - they simply thrust two textbooks into my hands and said, in effect, "Go get 'em." The students are O.K. but kind of lazy and ill mannered and tend to talk a lot during class, read magazines, chat on their cell phones, listen to MP3s, whatever. I don't actually blame them in a way, because they have the most God-awful textbooks produced in Singapore. Dull, boring, and culturally irrelevant. I tried to liven up the classes with some games and activities I got off the Web, but even these got old real fast. Word still got back to me the students found my classes boring. The school has been through a number of foreign teachers, mainly 3 within only the past year. Until I arrived, they were using substitutes from a school downtown, mostly South Africans. Interesting. The students say the reason for the turn over in staff is that the management lied to them. The Chinese staff say it's because the students are unmanageable. Even the Chinese teachers felt cheated though. One girl said she was promised a salary of 3000 RMB/month, only to find out when she started working that the school "didn't have the money".

Again, be careful in dealing with this school. The apartments for teachers were supposed to be completed in August, but there was "too much rain this summer" (or, as one of the teachers said, they "forgot" to pay the construction workers). Get any documents or contracts signed and notarized by the school before you leave your home country, get your "Z" visa from your Chinese consulate/embassy, buy a round-trip ticket, and some cash and/or a credit card. Oh yeah, and bring warm clothes!

Their flash-laden advertising brochure can be found at:
http://www.green-island.com.cn

YearOfTheDog · Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 4:05 am Post subject:

chicagojoe · Joined: 27 Sep 2005 Posts: 14

No, I have nothing against South Africans whatsoever. I just found the situation strange, that ALL of their P/T teachers were exclusively from there.

Wouldn't you?

YearOfTheDog · Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 4:14 am Post subject:

Would you find it wierd too if they were all American or Canadian?

I don't think it is that odd.

chicagojoe · Joined: 27 Sep 2005 Posts: 14

Now I'm not sure what your point is. You seem to be accusing me of discriminating against people from a particular country or group of people when I did nothing of the kind. I merely made an observation based on my experience, which can be a very subjective thing. Please do not read too much into my statement. I merely was saying that I did not even know there were that many South Africans living in Shenyang. North Koreans, yes... Cool

Midlothian Mapleheart · Joined: 26 May 2005 Posts: 623 Location: Elsewhere

Edited to remove offensive content.

Middy

chicagojoe · Joined: 27 Sep 2005 Posts: 14

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

Having a backup plan is always the best - - a little emergency money and not obliging yourself to a place that doesn't live up to its promises. This is mid-October, so it's about the right time to get stories like these. Good luck.

Keath · Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:43 pm Post subject:

Which agent in Chicago? I just moved to Chicago a few weeks ago..

chicagojoe · Joined: 27 Sep 2005 Posts: 14

The agency itself was not in Chicago, they're in the UK and China. I don't really want to name names on this board as far as the agency is concerned but if you want, call me after 9:00 pm at 312/5055351 and I'll tell you what I know - maybe we can have like a Chicago/China meetup or something.

YearOfTheDog · Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2005 1:46 am Post subject: Re: The agency

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

I have a couple of problems with you, Chicago chum, and you mustn't hold that against me!

First thing: who in the entire world is so naive as to go abroad with borrowed money, and not enough at that to tide him over for a few months, because he deludes himself that a good job is awaiting him over there????

Second: why the heck did you expect to be trained on the job? You came here as a FT, not as a teacher trainee! You should pass on your teaching skills to locals, not the other way around!

Given your lack of worldliness I am inclined to think most of the problems you have detailed here are overblown even if they actually do exist.

In another thread in another forum p namely the General Discussion Forum - someone put in a well-written observation of how unsuitable so many newbies are. I couldn't concur more with that guy.

In my view, the hirers should subject would-be FTs to an integrity test before hiring them!

YearOfTheDog · Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2005 6:13 am Post subject:

chicagojoe · Joined: 27 Sep 2005 Posts: 14

Okay, obviously you know nothing of me or my situation, yet you feel justified in jumping to conclusions about my life and choices. To jump to the conclusion that I'm a "newbie" and have no business being in China or outside my own country in the first place is quite presumptuous.

vikdk · Joined: 25 Jun 2003 Posts: 1676

Don't worry chicago - deposit just one sentence here - and there are certain rightous people here who can analyse your entire life history. Well you know what to do now - like most of us - laugh and ignore their advice.